Category Archives: Space

Go For Launch

I didn’t follow up yesterday, because I never got a connection in the afternoon, but Armadillo does have FAA permission to fly today, as Alan Boyle reported. Their first attempt at the Level 1 is scheduled shortly.

People here are frantically looking for a rogue wireless network, which is interfering with Armadillo’s ground-to-air communications. John controls it with a joystick operating on 2.4 GHz.

In the meantime, “Rocketman” (aka Don Schlund) is supposed to fly on a peroxide rocket belt in five minutes or so.

[Update a few minutes later]

He flew around on the tarmac for a little less than thirty seconds (that’s how much propellant he has). Max altitude, probable thirty or forty feet. It was quite loud. I’m sure he wears earplugs, but there should probably have been some for the closer spectators as well.

Meanwhile, while we’re waiting for Armadillo to do their Lunar Lander Challenge attempt, go read Jon Goff’s account of getting to Las Cruces and setting up, with Masten Aerospace.

And Anousheh Ansari’s plane just landed and taxied in front of us.

[Update at noon]

Jeff Foust has a picture of the Rocketman. He has other pictures (and a video, laready) as well. Check out the adjacent posts.

In The Tent

I’m in the third row of tables–I didn’t get here early enough to stake out something closer. I’m looking at the backs of Jeff Foust and Alan Boyle. Robin Snelson is up there as well, and Leonard and Barbara David have front-row seats.

I wandered around yesterday as they were setting up. Masten Space has a static display of the vehicle that they wanted to fly in the Lunar Landing Challenge, but couldn’t ready in time. XCOR has a modest tent, with the occasional demo by Doug Jones of their tabletop rocket engine, when the crowd pressure builds up enough to justify it. Sort of like a little geyser.

Rocketplane Kistler has a static display of the XP vehicle. No mockup of the Kistler K-1.

NASA has a walk-through inflable Orion spacecraft, with an inflatable spacesuited astronaut inside, larger than life. Kind of scary for the kids, if you ask me. But no one did. Some people have inflatable girlfriends, others inflatable astronauts. Space geeks, what can you say?

I guess the inflatable spacecraft is the latest attempt to save weight. On the other hand, if they reduce the weight too much, they won’t be able to justify the development of CLV. [VOICE=”Homer Simpson”]In case you didn’t realize it, I was being sarcastic.[/VOICE]

More later.

Copper

I’m sitting in the press tent at the X-Prize Cup, with an ethernet connection. Woohow! Bandwidth, sweet sweet bandwidth…

Typing is a little slow–the temperature is still in the upper fifties or low sixties, but phalanges will wiggle faster and with more reliability as the sun continues to warm the field.

The first rocket launch was scheduled for 7:15. It was a replica of one of Goddard’s rockets. It was a little over an hour late. Ascent was beautiful, in a cloudless windless sky. Unfortunately, as Gregg Maryniak pointed out, sometimes chute happens and sometimes it doesn’t. In this case, after apogee, it nosed over and plummeted straight down into the field exactly like a feather wouldn’t. No failure analysis as of this writing, though there was speculation by the Tripoli rep that the altitude-actuated system didn’t work, perhaps with an altimeter failure due to condensation from sitting on the pad overnight.

The Real Challenge

The big news of today, I think (since somehow my invitation to the Executive Summit for the X-Prize Cup got lost in the mail. Or something) is that John Carmack almost has a license to fly tomorrow for his attempt at the Lunar Landing Challenge? The catch?

He must answer these questions three. You know, like what is your favorite color?

Well, not really. Actually, the questions three are three successful flights today, when the crowds aren’t present. I’m informed that if he can do that, then he’ll have permission to fly with folks present. At least that’s what I was told late last night. But Alan Boyle says that they only have to perform a single hover test.

Anyway, I’m heading up to the airport shortly to see how it goes. Or went, if I don’t get there in time.

By the way, I see that Robin Snelson has been doing a good job of keeping up on what’s going on here. Just keep scrolling.

Heading For Enchantment

I’m flying out to Las Cruces in the morning, and will be there all week. Hope I’ll see some rocketry.

Assuming that my hotel was on the up and up about broadband in the room, I hope I’ll have some updates from the X-Prize Cup festivities.

National Greatness And Free People

A worth-repeating quote from Henry Spencer (a Canadian) over at sci.space.policy a few days ago:

>> Of course, I don’t expect that this fact
>>will make the politics of launching
>> a nuclear engine much easier.
>
> Oh it will happen. It’s just that manned space
> exploration is passing away from the
> democraciesthat are too narcissistic to care.

Nonsense. What we’ve seen so far (and what NASA is trying to return to) is just incidental dabbling. The days of real space exploration by free men still lie ahead, and in fact are getting pretty close. The cartoons are ending, and the curtain is about to go up on the main feature.

If all this sounds bizarre and fantastic, you need to stop thinking in terms of the socialist dream — spaceflight for the glory of the almighty state, the way NASA does it — and start considering the sort of space exploration that free people might do for their own reasons. It’s already possible to fly in space for any reason you think sufficient, if you’ve got the price of the ticket. It hasn’t worked out quite the way we thought — who would have *imagined* a world in which the only commercial spaceline requires you to learn Russian to get a seat assignment?!? — and it’s too damned expensive, but these nuisances will change soon, when real competition begins.

NASA will never, ever put men on Mars. Their target date for it is receding more than a year per year. But the first footprints on Mars almost certainly will be those of free men.

Don’t Know Much About Physics

Or economics. Clark Lindsey once again takes on John Pike. This wouldn’t be necessary if reporters didn’t continue to go to him for the “other side.”

What’s particularly frustrating is that John never actually addresses the rebuttals to his ignorance. He simply continues to repeat it, to any who will listen, which is far too many, particularly in the media.

[Saturday morning update]

This thread seems to have drifted a ridiculously long way from John Pike’s knowledge of engineering, business, and physics. I’m quite upset about it, actually, because it never had anything to do with either Fox News, or wiretapping Al Qaeda. Some people just insist on bringing their political hobby horses to graffiti any opportunity they have. I’m partially guilty myself for allowing myself to be sucked into it. Forewarned: any more comments on either of these subjects in this post will be deleted with extreme prejudice.